What does the future hold for interfaith relations? What research is needed? What knowledge do researchers and practitioners hold that might benefit each other? And what do policymakers need to know?
During Inter Faith Week 2024, the Cambridge Interfaith Programme coordinated a series of cross-sector interviews to explore these questions. Motivated in part by the closure of the UK’s Inter Faith Network in April 2024, a consequence of a delayed funding decision by the previous UK government, the interview series looked to involve a range of voices for an exercise in looking forward.
A mix of presenters
The 15 interviews were carried out by a mix of presenters—with a prominent role given to the next generation, predominantly postgraduate students from the Faculty of Divinity. A trio of interviews focused on Religious Education was organised jointly with The Faith & Belief Forum and included (among the interviewers) an alumnus of their ParliaMentors programme as well as a Cambridge postdoc currently embedded part-time with the F&BF team.
Interviews continue to be released on YouTube, with a new episode scheduled each weekday through to 27 November. Capacity permitting, an audio edition of the series will then be added to CIP’s Religion & Global Challenges podcast during December. The interviewers will then be invited to reconvene to discuss the outcomes, identify emergent themes, and consider what else we need to think fully and deeply about interfaith futures.
Origins
The whole enterprise was undertaken in consultation with the new Faith & Belief Policy Collective, an informal body brought together over the past year to articulate and design an innovative faith-and-belief-led approach to policy formation. F&BPC participants involved in this initiative include Professor Jagbir Jhutti-Johal (Birmingham), Dr Kathryn Wright (Culham St Gabriel’s Trust), Professor Chris Baker (Goldsmiths), Laura Marks CBE (Mitzvah Day), and CIP Programme Manager Dr Iona Hine.
Accessing the series
Short extracts are also being shared on social media platforms, including Instagram and LinkedIn—with the #InterfaithFutures hashtag.
An overview of the videos is provided below.
Update: 09 December 2024—all episodes are now also available on the Religion & Global Challenges podcast.
An episode-by-episode overview
Shared values: CIP Academic Director Professor Esra Ӧzyürek considers how learning from her ethnographic research in Turkey and Germany might apply to UK contexts, while contemplating the need for a new take on international shared values. Episode 1 on YouTube | A point of collapse? (via Captivate.fm).
At the table: Activist and academic Professor Jagbir Jhutti-Johal reflects on how those two roles inter-relate, and why it matters to make space at the table for those with lived experience of what’s at stake—with reference to the Assisted Dying bill and other contemporary issues. Episode 2 on YouTube | Advocacy and mentorship (via Captivate.fm).
Participation: Professor Flora Samuel moved to Cambridge in 2023 to lead the architecture department. We spoke about opportunities for faith groups to engage in urban decision-making, touching on how Samuel’s quality of life approach seeks to capture a sense of wonder throughout a city. Episode 3 on YouTube | Faith in urban spaces (via Captivate.fm).
In the RE Interfaith Futures special, award-winning headteacher Bushra Nasir (Bridges; Episode 4 on YouTube | Learning to coexist, via Captivate.fm), Cambridge PGCE course lead Daniel Moulin (Going beyond; Episode 5 on YouTube; Beyond superficiality, via Captivate.fm), and Culham St Gabriel’s Trust CEO Kathryn Wright (Embrace; Episode 6 on YouTube | Cultivating understanding, via Captivate.fm) respond to questions about the contemporary moment and what policymakers need to know.
Ways to connect: Michael Wakelin is Executive Chair of the Religion Media Centre. He emphasised the importance of building relationships, whether between religious leaders (as in the Faith in Leadership programme) or between communities and media professionals (as in RMC’s new Creating Connections scheme). Episode 7 on YouTube | Ways to connect (via Captivate.fm).
Economics: Professor Sriya Iyer leads the Economic Development strand in the Templeton Religion Trust’s Social Consequences of Religion initiative. Drawing on her own studies in the US, UK and India, she reflects on the importance of understanding religion’s economic impact—which can be demonstrably positive. Episode 8 on YouTube | The economics of religion (via Captivate.fm).
Collective power: Professor Michael Pollitt seeks to harness the collective power of religious communities to respond to the climate crisis (at the start of COP29)—we need a miracle, and a faith-driven campaign for carbon markets could make all the difference. Episode 9 on YouTube | Bridging faith and economics to combat climate change (via Captivate.fm).
Good deeds: Laura Marks founded the Jewish charity Mitzvah Day, drawing on people’s passions to help others. Over two decades an interfaith dimension has emerged; meanwhile, Laura has had a pivotal role in the creation of two women-led faith-driven partnerships to better the world. Episode 10 on YouTube | Birthing Mitzvah Day and women-led interfaith movements (via Captivate.fm).
Radical capital: During fieldwork in Manchester in the early 2000s, Professor Chris Baker witnessed faith groups’ concern at the preconditions of involvement in funded social work, which required them to remain silent about their motivations. We discussed why and how that should be changing. Episode 11 on YouTube | Radical capital (via Captivate.fm).
Euphoria: The Rev Dr Alex Clare-Young is a pioneer minister in the United Reformed Church and author of Trans Formations, taking Christian trans and non-binary theology seriously. The interview relays key experiences of intersectionality and how being on the margins enables allyship across faith boundaries. Episode 12 on YouTube | Euphoric Trans Formations (via Captivate.fm).
Food & love: Arezoo Farahzad is chair of trustees at the Plymouth Centre for Faiths and Cultural Diversity, and recently started monthly International Dinners. She reflects on the success of such work, and on what might be learned from August riots in the city. Episode 13 on YouTube | Cooking up connection (via Captivate.fm).
In parallel: Bradford’s religious mix anticipates Pew Research Center projections for the world in 2050. The Rev Nathanael Poole has worked there for the past 8 years. So what matters for good interfaith relations in that context? Episode 14 on YouTube | A mind-opening apprenticeship (via Captivate.fm).
Co-create: Jeeves Rohilla founded the National Multifaith Youth Centre with the intent of enabling others to co-produce good interfaith work with young people. Now studying for a PhD in Cambridge, he advocates for a proactive approach to supporting young people’s interfaith interests, while remaining alert of the emotional labour involved and the need for appropriate planning and safeguarding. Episode 15 on YouTube | Empowering through coproduction and navigating intersections (via Captivate.fm).